The Jaiotze Basatia trail begins in Beruete, although you can start from any of the three towns mentioned above. The first climb already gives us an idea that the trail is going to be hard. Hard ramps with some landings per dirt road, until reaching a singletrack that takes us to the first descent: Iratxo. Flow descent mostly through beech woods with a lot of curves, some natural falls… and a more twisty finish among chestnut trees. So funny.

By cement track we will link the town of Arrarats, with the possibility of supplying ourselves with water. From here, hard ramps to the fields of Otxola, a beautiful place where the Otxola river is born, hence its name. In the small stone cabin we will also have water. From here there are two ways to climb towards the Ernaitzu hills. On the first occasion we take the GR, a technical and hard uphill singletrack, with some brief portering. Once we go up and go out to the fields of Ernaitzu, we will be able to fill the water cans again. From here we go up Launtze mountain, passing by a pretty cabin and the dolmen of the two sisters (Biaizpen Sepultura).

From the top of Launtze we will enjoy some good views, and the longest descent of the day begins. First along the dirt road that can be seen marked out in the fields, and when it turns to the left, we will continue straight on to link up with a broken singletrack that leads us into the forest. This will take us to the Bidate area, a small open area that will leave us under the wind farms. From here, cross the fence on the right and the Basakaitz singletrack immediately begins. More than 5 km of singletrack, fast at the beginning and technical and physical at the end, in beautiful enviroment. Once down, we take the road that goes to Erasun and immediately, we deviate to take the connection by mount.

Here begins the longest and hardest climb of the day, but which will make us enjoy a wonderful environment. First, a hard connection to Erasun, where we can get water before reaching the town. When you see the church, take the path that remains to the right. On this climb there are hard sections, which if you are not very strong you will have to dismount from time to time. Quite a challenge to pull it up. As you gain altitude, the path becomes a beautiful singletrack that skirts the mountains of Azkonzulueta and Orobiko Larre. This singletrack alone is worth pushing up. We follow the singletrack until we come to a stream. Here it is time to push the bike for a minute, to get out onto the dirt road that will take us back to Otxola.

From Otxola, we will go up towards Ernaitzu, this time using a different climb. At first, along a forest track and later, along a path in spectacular enviroment. From here we will leave the last piece of the GR, avoiding the piece of portering. We will continue going up, this time towards Ernaitzu.

From the top of Ernaitzu, 360º views, awesome. Turning to the left we will begin the descent, with a technical start until we reach the singletrack that crosses the field. We will leave this singletrack without reaching the end, to cross the field and link up with another singletrack. Cross the fence and we will take the fun section of the descent…curves, some natural jump…very fast.

The descent leaves us at the top of Karate. From here it is time to go back up the first ascent, but this time to the top, to take the Akerbeltz descent. Heavy descent, with technical steps, which softens as we go down… but not much. Once down, go up the road to the Txaseneko Borda cider house, to take the singletrack that takes us to Basajaun, the last descent of the day. Fun, varied (gangway, jumps, curves…)… to put the icing on the cake.

We will go up the road to the town of Beruete, to loosen our legs and assimilate that we have managed to overcome Jaiotze Basatia, a real challenge.